My colleague, Michelle Bruno of the Bruno Group, has share a resource with additional names of event folks who you should consider following on Twitter.  BTW, her Twitter handle is @MichelleBruno and you show add her to the individuals to follow.

The resource  is PeerIndex and Julius Solaris, from EventManagerBlog.com has created this group.  I believe you will find it very informative.  Here is a snapshot from the site:

I would suggest that you add your name to the PeerIndex and watch you rankings grow.

Also, the site Grader.com will assess your Twitter activities, too.  I just checked mine and I have a score of 95 out of 100.  So there is room to grow!!  What is your score??

Last week at the #TSTS event, I  presented a session titled: Let’s Talk Twitter at Trade Shows.  One of the promises I made for the “newbies” in the audience was to have a list of folks to follow.  So here it is:

Trade Show and Event Folks

Jeff Hurt – @JeffHurt

Dave Lutz – @VelChain

Roger Lewis – @RogLewis

Dana Freker Doody – @The ExpoGroup

Emilie Barta – @EmilieBarta

Greg Ruby – @GregRuby

Michael Thimmish -@SkylineExhibits

Dave Brull – @DaveBrull

Traci Browne – @tracibrowne

Stephanie Selesnick – @stephselesnick

Michelle Bruno – @MichelleBruno

Michael McCurry – @MichaelMcCurry

Terence Donnelly  – @TRDonnelly

Other Twitter Experts & Celebrities

Chris Brogan – @ChrisBrogan

Guy Kawasaki – @GuyKawasaki

Joe Pulizzi – @juntajoe

C.C. Chapman – @cc_chapman

Peter Shankman – @PeterShankman

Paul Gillin – @pgillin

I will add more through the day, so check back to see the every growing list.

Hashtags

#eventprofs

#tradeshows

TSEAHQ

#IAEE

More to come…

Goodness, it has been almost two weeks since the IAEE Mid-Year Meeting in Washington D.C. where I had the privilege of learning from some of the very best social media gurus.  The day-long  session was Social Media Exposed, and it was taught by Rick Calvert from Blogworld, Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer and DJ Waldow of Blue Sky Factory.

I had my trusty camcorder with me and caught part of the day’s education.  Below are 2 segments each from DJ Waldow and Jason Falls presentations.  Enjoy!!

I will share the rest of the content from these videos a bit later. Let me know if they are help for your social media strategies and tactics.

I am at the IAEE’s Mid-Year Meeting today and learning social media with Jason Falls, DJ Waldow and Rick Calvert.  I have video taped part of a session this morning and will do more this afternoon.

Stay tuned….

Below is another short video with Rick Calvert, CEO and Founder of Blogworld New Media Expo.  Once again, I am asking him a question about the use of twitter at Blogworld.

On The International Center for Exhibitor and Event Marketing, I posted today an excellent article about the use of social media [including Twitter] at International Manufacturing Technology Show.  You may read it by clicking here.

There are many success stories revolving around the use of social media and trade shows.  I will share more as I find them.  If you have one, please contact me at joycemckee [at] letstalktradeshows [dot] com.

At Expo! Expo! I had the opportunity of speaking with Rick Calvert, CEO and Founder of Blogworld New Media Expo.  One of my questions to him was regarding the very successful use of Twitter.  Listen in:

I will spend some more time on Blogworld in the next post. Right now I am running off to catch a flight back to Dallas – happy Friday!!

Social media opportunities are everywhere!!  They are now an integral component of our business lives.  Some companies have embraced this new wave with gusto, while others have only put their toe in the waters of social media.  Almost all of us are using an aspect or tool that is a part of this new landscape.

How are you using social media in your participation at a trade show?

• Twitter to draw traffic to your booth?
• Tweet-ups to meet folks?
• Facebook and LinkedIn to garner attention for your product/service?

Have these new social media tools created leads for you?

I saw this week in BtoB Magazine this piece:

Hoover’s: Businesses like social media for lead generation

Christopher Hosford

Story posted: April 6, 2010 – 11:59 am EDT

Austin, Texas—Most businesses either already use social media as a lead-generation tool or plan to begin leveraging its lead-gen potential, according to a poll conducted last week by business research company Hoover’s Inc.

Hoover’s polled 395 viewers of its Hoover’s Business Insight Zone blog with a single question: “Do you use social media to generate business leads?” A total of 191 replied yes, and 97 said it’s in their plans, for a combined 73% of the total.

The remaining 27% replied that they do not use social media as a lead-gen channel and have no plans to do so.

This is an interesting statistic.  But I would like to hear real life experiences to support these numbers.  So I am asking if you have found a new component via social media to augment your booth activities at a show.